1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a nozzle exchanging or mounting apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a locking apparatus for a nozzle exchanging or mounting apparatus by means of which a nozzle(s) can be easily and promptly exchanged with another nozzle(s) corresponding to a size of a semiconductor device.
2. Background of the Related Art
In the recent development of electric and electronic components for electronic products, there has been a trend toward higher density, smaller size, and various types of components, due to the high level of competition. In particular, a surface mounting technology discussed hereinafter is used to mount various electric and electronic components to a printed circuit board using a surface mounting apparatus. The use of such technology is becoming popular.
The surface mounting assembly equipment typically has, as the core apparatus, the surface mounting apparatus for mounting various types of components onto the printed circuit board. The surface mounting apparatus receives the various types of components from a parts feeder, transfers the components to component mounting positions, and then performs the mounting of the components onto the printed circuit board.
Surface mounting apparatuses are generally classified into two types of apparatuses, i.e., high speed apparatuses and general purpose apparatuses, depending upon the function thereof. The former is designed to assemble a large number of components in a relatively short time period, thus advantageously resulting in a faster component mounting operation suitable for mass production. However, this type of apparatus has a drawback in the reduced mounting precision.
The latter is adapted to mount various types of components, thus resulting in higher mounting precision and the ability to mount various types of components. The general purpose apparatus has the advantage of a smaller amount of production for various types of components, but the drawback is its lower throughput caused by the reduced production.
A surface mounting apparatus consists of a feeder (hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x98tape feederxe2x80x99) for supplying components, an X-Y gantry for determining operating positions, a conveyer for carrying a printed circuit board, and a header unit for picking up the components from the tape feeder in an orderly fashion and mounting the same onto the printed circuit board. The term xe2x80x9csurface mounting apparatusxe2x80x9d generally refers to an apparatus adapted to mount electronic components, including various chips, onto a printed circuit board, and is also called a xe2x80x9cmounterxe2x80x9d.
The structure of the above mentioned surface mounting apparatus will be described in detail as follows.
The surface mounting apparatus discussed above consists of a base assembly; a conveyor provided on an upper part of the base assembly for transferring the printed circuit board; a feeder portion for supplying various chips or surface mounting components to be mounted onto the printed circuit board transferred by the conveyor; a mounter head assembly for mounting each of the various chips or surface mounting components which are supplied by the feeder portion onto the printed circuit board; a vision or sensor portion for recognizing the components and correcting the mounting positions so that the various chips or surface mounting components are accurately mounted onto the printed circuit board; and an X-Y gantry, such as a table, equipped with the vision or sensor portion and the mounter head assembly for positioning the same.
Further, the mounter head assembly includes a suction nozzle for directly vacuum sucking a part, a nozzle chuck for holding the sucked part, and a nozzle exchanging apparatus for exchanging one nozzle with another nozzle. The nozzle exchanging apparatus is used to exchange a first nozzle designed to hold a first type of electronic component with a second nozzle designed to hold a second type of electronic component. Since the kinds of semiconductor devices to be mounted onto the printed circuit board may have different sizes, an easy and prompt operation is required to exchange one nozzle with another nozzle.
However, such needs cannot be satisfied due to the lack of adequate nozzle locking apparatus. Further, an accurate and stable exchanging operation of the nozzle has been impossible thusfar. Moreover, although prior art nozzle locking apparatuses have been provided, the prior art devices take too long to exchange a nozzle.
An object of the invention is to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described hereinafter.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a locking apparatus for a nozzle exchanging apparatus by means of which a nozzle can be easily and promptly exchanged by releasing the nozzle. A device embodying the invention allows a new nozzle to be rapidly locked into place when a first nozzle needs to be exchanged with a second nozzle.
It is another object of the invention to provide a locking apparatus for the nozzle exchanging apparatus by means of which the precision of the mounting operation can be further improved by stable placing of the nozzle.
The above mentioned objects can be accomplished by a locking apparatus for a nozzle exchanging apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. The locking apparatus includes a nozzle installation body having a nozzle installation portion in which a plurality of nozzles are disposed at a predetermined interval therebetween. The device also includes locking means, the locking means being longitudinally inserted into and installed at one side of the nozzle installation body, and the device further includes driving means coupled to a bracket fixed at one side of the locking means, for selectively moving the locking means backward and forward in a longitudinal direction.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.